NEWPORT BEACH, Cal. -- The Anaheim Ducks, thought to be trade deadline participants to boost their chances of repeating as Stanley Cup winners, might welcome an old friend instead.

Winger Teemu Selanne began a personal skating program the past few days, just a month after teammate and captain Scott Niedermayer ended his retirement. There is no guarantee the 37-year-old Selanne is coming back, but he might if he feels he owes a lot to the playoff-challenged Ducks, who need some of his 48 goals and team-best 94 points from last year.

"So far, I don't know yet," Selanne told the Orange County Register. "I'm going to skate for a couple of weeks now, start pushing more and more, and then I will feel for sure if I feel good enough.

"The good thing is I have done everything I have to do if I want to come back. I've been working out five times a week."

Selanne never considered returning to Finland, firmly entrenched in the Anaheim area and wife Sirpa just delivering their fourth child, and first girl, on Dec. 5.

That was the same day Niedermayer announced his return, prompting general manager Brian Burke to quip "we hope that baby cries a lot, so Teemu will want to get out of the house".

Unlike Niedermayer, whose salary dictated the Ducks trade Andy McDonald to the Blues for the less cumbersome stipend of Doug Weight, Selanne can play mostly for incentives if he does return.

"I talked to Burkie before Christmas, and said I would start skating after New Year's and just go from there," Selanne said. "I want to make the decision this month. This is the last process in my thinking.

"I have to be honest. Obviously, I have a great situation. I don't have to come back. Especially when I come to games and see all the boys play, I get really excited, but I have to get the feeling, that this is going to be awesome. I have to feel 100% that everything is there."

The Ducks played at home against the Nashville Predators last night, then have a day off before hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Niedermayer has five points in nine games and joked that part of the reason he came back was because his kids missed the Ducks' dressing room.